torieshttp://www.desmogblog.com/taxonomy/term/1328/all
enThe Guardian Reveals Key Funder of Global Warming Policy Foundation Is Michael Hintzehttp://www.desmogblog.com/guardian-reveals-key-funder-global-warming-policy-foundation-michael-hintze
<div class="field field-name-field-bimage field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><img src="http://www.desmogblog.com/sites/beta.desmogblog.com/files/styles/blog_teaser/public/blogimages/GWPF.jpeg?itok=zGHswl8C" width="200" height="94" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p><em>Cross-posted with permission from <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/mar/27/tory-donor-climate-sceptic-thinktank">The Guardian</a><br />
by Graham Readfearn, Leo Hickman and Rupert Neate</em></p>
<p>Michael Hintze, a leading Conservative party donor who runs the £5bn hedge fund <span class="caps">CQS</span>, has emerged as a financial backer of the climate sceptic thinktank founded by former chancellor, Lord Nigel Lawson.</p>
<p>The <a href="http://thegwpf.org/">Global Warming Policy Foundation</a>, launched by Lawson in 2009, regularly casts doubt on the science and cost of tackling <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/scienceofclimatechange">climate change</a> in the media and has called on climate scientists to show greater transparency, but has refused to reveal details of its donors. Leading Nasa climate scientist James Hansen <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/jan/23/climate-sceptic-lawson-thinktank-funding">calls it</a> “one link in a devious manipulation of public opinion [regarding climate change].”</p>
<p>On Monday, Downing Street was forced to reveal that Hintze was among the leading Tory donors who were invited to privately dine with David Cameron at a “thank you” dinner following the general election in 2010. The revelation that Hintze, who has also donated £1.5m to the Tory party, is connected with <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/climate-change-scepticism">climate change scepticism</a> will be an embarassment for David Cameron, <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/may/14/cameron-wants-greenest-government-ever">who has pledged to lead the “greenest government ever”</a>.</p>
<p>The Guardian has seen correspondence sent by Hintze in which he appears to indicate he is financially supporting the educational charity. Last October, Hintze emerged as a key figure in the lobbying <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2011/oct/11/michael-hintze-liam-fox-backer">scandal </a>which forced the resignation of the then defence secretary Liam Fox after it was revealed by the Guardian that Hintze had given free office space to Fox's controversial associate Adam Werrity and flown both Fox and Werrity on his private jet. Hintze's former charity adviser, Oliver Hylton, later lost his job at <span class="caps">CQS</span> <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/oct/16/adam-werritty-liam-fox-pargav">after it was revealed that he was the sole director of Pargav Ltd</a>, a company which paid for Werrity's global travel and derived its income from Conservative party donors.</p>
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<p>Hintze's backing for the <span class="caps">GWPF</span> was made apparent in an email sent last September following an approach by a climate change project for funding. He declined the request, writing that he was “fully committed at this time. Furthermore we are supporting Nigel Lawson's initiative.” Both Hintze and <span class="caps">CQS</span> have declined to comment on the email.</p>
<p>There have been repeated calls for the <span class="caps">GWPF</span>, <a href="http://thegwpf.org/who-we-are.html">which claims</a> to be “all-party and non-party”, to reveal the identities of its donors, but Lawson has refused saying that he offers all donors the protection of anonymity so not to risk exposing them to public criticism. He has added that his charity does not accept donations from anyone with a “significant” interest in the energy industry.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/jan/23/climate-sceptic-lawson-thinktank-funding">A long-running Freedom of Information request</a> by the investigative journalist [Brendan] Montague, which was supported by Hansen, to force the Charity Commission to reveal the identity of the thinktank's seed donor was <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/feb/21/climate-change-sceptic-not-influential-funder">recently rejected by a judge</a> at the Information Rights Tribunal. The judge commented, however, that she found it “rather surprising” that the <span class="caps">GWPF</span> claims to have significant influence over policymakers when it is registered as an educational charity. According to the Charity Commission, educational charities cannot “exist for a political purpose.” This, she said, was a matter for the Charity Commission to investigate, not the tribunal.</p>
<p>John Prescott, the former deputy prime minister <a href="http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200910/cmhansrd/cm091124/debtext/91124-0008.htm">who has called</a> for Lawson to reveal his funders, said: “Lord Lawson should own up to, not just to this donation, but also where any other donation has come from. The public interest demands greater transparency as to where the money has come from for his hostile thinktank into climate change. I've asked him in the alley way, I've asked him in parliament and I'll have to ask again: come clean, Lord Lawson.”</p>
<p>Montague added: “Lord Lawson must now recognise there is a public interest in him being transparent about the funding of the <span class="caps">GWPF</span>. The Charity Commission should investigate the political nature of his climate sceptic think tank which campaigns for a change in government policy while being part funded by Tory party donors. How can the public take Lawson's <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/nov/22/chris-huhne-lawson-think-tank">demand for transparency</a> [of climate scientists] seriously when he has been so secretive about his own funding?”</p>
<p>The Australian-born Hintze is a key backer of the Conservative party, donating to the party and to individual politicians since 2005. His hedge fund <span class="caps">CQS</span> has also donated to the party. In 2006, <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2006/mar/27/uk.conservatives">Hintze revealed he had loaned £2.5m to the party</a>.</p>
<p>Hintze, whose personal fortune <a href="http://www.forbes.com/profile/michael-hintze/">is estimated by Forbes magazine to be $1.4bn (£880m)</a>, has been lauded in philanthropic circles for his multi-million pound donations to the arts and museum projects, including major donations to the Victoria <span class="amp">&amp;</span> Albert Museum in London, £2m to the National Gallery and money to help restore Michaelangelo frescoes in the Vatican's Pauline Chapel.</p>
<p>Charity Commission <a href="http://www.charity-commission.gov.uk/Accounts/Ends42%5C0001101842_ac_20101231_e_c.pdf">records</a> show that in 2010 The Hintze Family Charitable Foundation also gave £100,000 to the <a href="http://www.iea.org.uk/">Institute of Economic Affairs</a>, a right-leaning, free-market thinktank, where Hintze is also a trustee. The <span class="caps">IEA</span> has <a href="http://www.iea.org.uk/policy-areas/environment-and-transport">promoted</a> the work of Lord Lawson and other climate sceptics, including <a href="http://www.iea.org.uk/publications/recommended-reading/unstoppable-global-warming">a book claiming global warming is not caused by humans</a> but is instead part of a natural cycle. Professor David Henderson, a member of the <span class="caps">IEA</span>'s advisory council, is the chairman of <span class="caps">GWPF</span>'s <a href="http://thegwpf.org/who-we-are/academic-advisory-council.html">academic advisory council</a>.</p>
<p>Hintze is also chairman of the board of trustees for the <a href="http://www.princes-foundation.org/about-us/trustees">Prince's Foundation for Building Community</a>, to which he has donated £683,954 in recent years. In 2009, Hintze received The Prince of Wales <a href="http://artsandbusiness.org.uk/Central/volunteering/prince-of-wales-medal.aspx">Medal for Arts Philanthropy</a> from Prince Charles, who has been a vocal critic of climate sceptics.</p>
<p>In 2010 during a speech at St James' Palace, the prince said climate sceptics were peddling “<a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/jul/15/prince-charles-attacks-climate-sceptics">pseudo science</a>”. In a <a href="http://www.princeofwales.gov.uk/speechesandarticles/a_speech_by_hrh_the_prince_of_wales_to_the_low_carbon_prospe_1007667674.html">speech at the European Parliament a year ago</a>, the prince said climate sceptics were having a “corrosive effect” on public opinion and were playing a “reckless game of roulette” with the future of the planet. Last December, Hintze replaced Hylton as his charity adviser with Major William Mackinlay, Prince Charles's former equerry.</p>
<p>Last November, Chris Huhne, the then energy secretary, <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/nov/22/chris-huhne-lawson-think-tank">described the <span class="caps">GWPF</span> as “misinformed, wrong and perverse.”</a></p>
<p>Last week, the <span class="caps">GWPF</span> filed its latest set of accounts with Companies House. It revealed that the charity's income in the year up to July 2011 was £158,008, compared to £503,302 in its first year. Income from membership fees suggest that it now has 143 members compared to 88 in its first year.</p>
<p>In a statement included with the accounts, Lawson said: “We have been able to establish ourselves as the leading thinktank in our field… Before we came into existence there was virtually no debate about global warming policy in the <span class="caps">UK</span>. There is now increasingly lively debate and, within the media, only the <span class="caps">BBC</span> continues to regard the matter as being definitively settled and not a proper subject for debate. The <span class="caps">GWPF</span> has played an important part in achieving this change.”</p>
<p>Lawson and the <span class="caps">GWPF</span> were approached by the Guardian but have yet to comment.<br /><br /><em>Cross-posted with permission from <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/mar/27/tory-donor-climate-sceptic-thinktank" style="color: rgb(51, 153, 204); text-decoration: none; ">The Guardian</a><br />
by Graham Readfearn, Leo Hickman and Rupert Neate</em></p>
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<div class="field field-name-taxonomy-vocabulary-14 field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/1328">tories</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/2235">climate skeptics</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/2352">global warming denial</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/4768">global warming policy foundation</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/5731">David Cameron</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/6314">GWPF</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/7558">Lord Lawson</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/8734">Michael Hintze</a></div></div></div>Wed, 28 Mar 2012 17:45:10 +0000Guest6171 at http://www.desmogblog.comCanadian Conservative Senators Use their Clout to Kill Climate Bill Passed by House of Commonshttp://www.desmogblog.com/canadian-conservative-senators-use-their-clout-kill-climate-bill-passed-house-commons
<div class="field field-name-field-bimage field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><img src="http://www.desmogblog.com/sites/beta.desmogblog.com/files/styles/blog_teaser/public/blogimages/senate.jpeg?itok=oQa77nX-" width="200" height="150" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p>A snap vote in Canada’s unelected, and primarily Tory Senate on Tuesday night saw the <a href="http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/ottawa-notebook/tory-senators-kill-climate-bill-passed-by-house/article1802519/" target="_blank">demise of the <span class="caps">NDP</span>’s Climate Change Accountability Act</a> by a narrow margin of 43-32. The vote caught Liberals in the Upper House off guard, and the climate change legislation was no match for Stephen Harper’s conservative-stacked Senate. Without any debate in the Red Chamber, Conservative Senators called a vote on Bill C-311 introduced by Thunder Bay-Superior <span class="caps">NDP</span> Bruce Hyer. Canada’s hope for meaningful environmental legislation ahead of the <span class="caps">UN</span> Cancun climate talks later this month was killed by eleven votes.<br /> <br />The bill has spent the last year bouncing between the House of Commons and its environmental committee. It would have called for greenhouse gas emissions to be cut by 25 percent below 1990 levels by 2020. It also set a long-term goal to bring emissions down 80 percent below 1990 levels by 2050. That’s a lot more stringent than what the Harper government is calling for now—namely a 17 percent emissions cut from 2005 levels by 2020.<br /> <br />This marks the first time that unelected Conservative Senators have used their near-majority to kill a bill passed by elected politicians. The absence of over 15 Liberals from the Senate allowed the bill to fail narrowly in a vote.<br /> <br />According to <span class="caps">NDP</span> leader Jack Layton, “This was one of the most undemocratic acts that we have ever seen in the Parliament of Canada…To take power that doesn’t rightfully belong to them to kill a bill that has been adopted by a majority of the House of Commons representing a majority of Canadians is as wrong as it gets when it comes to democracy in this country”. <br /><!--break--><br />In this shocking move, Harper did exactly what he promised he would never do, to use elected officials to counter the will of Parliament and the Canadian public.<br /> <br />Opposition <span class="caps">MP</span>s and environmental activists say Canada is going into the <span class="caps">UN</span> Cancun climate talks later this month empty handed. Canada will likely be the only country to have done nothing since Copenhagen.<br /> <br />Read on at <a href="http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/ottawa-notebook/tory-senators-kill-climate-bill-passed-by-house/article1802519/" target="_blank">The Globe and Mail</a>.</p></div></div></div><!-- iCopyright Horizontal Tag -->
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<div class="field field-name-taxonomy-vocabulary-14 field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/913">global warming</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/939">climate change</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/1328">tories</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/3098">jack layton</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/3099">NDP</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/4362">Copenhagen Climate Summit</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/4930">House of Commons</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/5057">Cancun climate talks</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/5405">Canadian Senate</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/5406">Red Chamber</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/5407">The Climate Change Accountability Act (Bill C-311)</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/5408">Bruce Hyer</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/5409">emissions targets</a></div></div></div>Wed, 17 Nov 2010 19:42:15 +0000Emma Pullman4928 at http://www.desmogblog.comInaction on Global Warming Sees Canadian Tory Government Bleeding In Pollshttp://www.desmogblog.com/inaction-on-global-warming-sees-canadian-tory-government-bleeding-in-polls
<div class="field field-name-field-bimage field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><img src="http://www.desmogblog.com/sites/beta.desmogblog.com/files/styles/blog_teaser/public/images/blog-feature-2649.jpg?itok=Zi4yo_ke" width="138" height="200" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p>A new <a href="http://www.thestar.com/News/article/286547">Angus Reid poll</a> out today shows that the Stephen Harper Tory government continues to slump in popularity, and much of the blame lands squarely on their continued bumbling over the issue of global warming. </p><p>The Tory government is limping along with a paltry 33 per cent of Canadians supporting their party compared with 36.3 per cent on election day and the party's high of 39 per cent in March of this year.</p><p>The environment remains the highest-ranked issue for voters.</p><p>Thirty-one per cent of those surveyed said their opinion of Harper has worsened. </p><p>According to Angus Reid, “the environment remains the most important issue in this country … and this is an issue the Harperites haven't understood. Moving (Environment Minister) John Baird into that position I don't think has helped them.”</p><p>This government clearly doesn't get it. </p><p>The Canadian public is seeing through their half-measures and token environmental policies and the only way Harper can turn this ship around is to drop the <span class="caps">PR</span> spin and start showing real concern and real action. </p><p>Harper could also start worrying less about his backers in the Alberta oil-patch and start listening to the rest of Canada.</p></div></div></div><!-- iCopyright Horizontal Tag -->
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<div class="field field-name-taxonomy-vocabulary-14 field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/879">John Baird</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/913">global warming</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/939">climate change</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/1115">Stephen Harper</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/1328">tories</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/2544">conservative government canada</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/2545">angus reid polls</a></div></div></div>Tue, 18 Dec 2007 20:34:31 +0000Emily Murgatroyd2649 at http://www.desmogblog.com